


Any Fin Is Possible

by tony_octopus



Category: Young Avengers
Genre: Billy the shitty fisherman, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Teddy takes pity on him, Tumblr Prompt, mermaid au, nobody can blame Billy, there is some ogling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 15:05:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7645936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tony_octopus/pseuds/tony_octopus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billy thought he was a decent fisherman, but he never expected to land a catch like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Any Fin Is Possible

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hulklinging](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hulklinging/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZIGGY!!! 
> 
> Special thanks to [SomeBratInAMask](http://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeBratInAMask) for coming up with the idea and beta-reading it for me.
> 
> Original post [here](http://somebratinamask.tumblr.com/post/130584416886/why-are-there-are-no-aus-where-teddy-is-a-mermaid).
> 
> Artwork by [sorceringing](http://sorceringing.tumblr.com/post/130842420486/reincarnatedrainbow-why-are-there-are-no-aus), used with permission.

It wasn’t the time or day of the week when he usually went fishing, but Billy had to get away for a while. School had been a trial, and he’d only just gotten away from Kesler with a black eye this time instead of having his head dunked into the toilet.

When his father had suggested fishing as an alternative to a sport after school, Billy hadn’t put much stock in it at first. But to escape the nagging of his parents, he’d taken dad’s old fishing rod and a bucket of bait and come out here to the river just outside of town. It lay far enough into the woods to be fairly quiet, but it was deep and – according to a local brochure – teeming with fish.

It was peaceful. Billy stopped laughing at the suggestion once he’d sat down and put his bait in the water. The fresh air, the gentle sounds of the wind in the trees and the water lapping at the shore…it was relaxing in a way he’d only before experienced while reading comic books.

He’d never seen any other fishermen in this part of the forest, which was a pleasant surprise. After reading how good of a fishing river this was supposed to be, he had expected to run into _someone_ at some point. So far he’d been spared.

Billy tended to go every Wednesday. Wednesdays dragged on forever and he needed this little escape to make it through the last few days before the weekend. It was actually Tuesday today, but it had been bad enough that he felt he deserved a few hours to unwind before subjecting himself to his obnoxious brothers again.

It wasn’t like he usually caught a lot; sometimes he even threw the fish back in. In fact, he hadn’t thought he would catch any fish at all, since he was inexperienced, but apparently all he needed to do was put out some bait and wait. He could do that.

Billy got to his usual spot and sat down in the small folding chair he carried with him. It was cloudy today, but he hoped to get a few hours in before it started to rain.

About one hour later he was beginning to think today was an unlucky day. There still hadn’t been one tug on the line, he could feel his eye beginning to swell, and by now he regretted not having taken a sandwich with him. That’s when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, just where the river flowed around a bend created by a couple of boulders.

A splash.

What kind of fish made a splash that big? It had to have been a fish, but it vanished beneath the surface. Billy carefully got up and craned his neck, trying to catch another glimpse when something tugged at his line.

Tugged was an understatement. Whatever had taken his bait, it was yanking so hard that it dislodged his fishing rod from its stand and would have pulled it into the water if Billy hadn’t grabbed it thanks to his fast reflexes. Still, he was nearly knocked off his feet and had to put his whole weight behind reeling in the fish. He braced his feet, almost slipping on the muddy ground and _pulled_ –

And shouted in surprise when out of the water came an arm, followed by a body, followed by a…fishtail?

His fingers went slack with shock and the rod fell to the ground, but the merman only smiled sheepishly and waved with the hand that wasn’t currently caught in Billy’s fishing line.

“Hello. I admit this isn’t how I imagined meeting you.”

His skin was green; the perfect hue to hide between water plants, but his hair was bright as the sun. His eyes weren’t blue like the river he had come from, but blue as the sky above. His ears looked fin-like, as if he could press them flat against his head. There were also gills on the merman’s neck, which solved the question Billy had always asked himself about how mermaids could breathe. And wasn’t it just par for the course that _that_ was what he focused on?

It was a miracle that he could even think at all through his surprise. On top of the guy in front of him being a merman, he looked to be around Billy’s age, and he was also unbelievably gorgeous. The way the water ran in little rivulets down his torso, well…it made for a very nice effect, no matter the colour of his skin or scales.

The merman had started trying to untangle the line from around his arm while Billy stared, but it looked quite knotted from where he was standing. It had to hurt.

That’s when the man’s words finally registered, making Billy blink in surprise once again.

“You…imagined meeting me?”

That got him another embarrassed smile in response. “Well, yes. I’ve been watching you for a while. You’re a day early this week. Fishermen don’t come here, there’s not a lot to catch, but you…you just kept coming back. And you looked so happy sitting there, I wanted to see what it would look like if you actually caught something, so I…I…” He looked as if he’d like nothing more than to sink back into the river. “I put a fish on your hook.”

Billy felt his jaw drop. A merman had caught a fish for him? “B-but just the one time, right?”

The man squirmed, his tail peeking out of the water briefly. He shook his head, unable to look the fisherman in the eyes anymore. He simply kept picking at the fishing line around his arm.

Oh, right. Billy quickly took his knife out of his backpack. He tried not to be offended by the way the merman jerked back and tensed. Who knew what humans usually did to his kind? Billy just bent down and cut the line, freeing the man from his fishing rod. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” He smiled again and didn’t swim away immediately. That had to be a good sign, right? Billy sat down at the river bank, pulling off his shoes and letting his bare feet dangle in the water.

“I’m Billy, by the way. It’s amazing to meet you; I didn’t even know merpeople existed.”

The merman heaved himself up to shore as well. Billy tried very hard not to ogle the way the muscles rippled in his arms and chest. “It’s nice to finally talk to you, too. I’ve been so curious about you. It’s not often that people just release the fish back into the river instead of eating them. Oh, and my name is Teddy.” He smiled warmly, and it was entirely unfair to Billy’s heart and stomach. The kinds of acrobatics they were performing could not be healthy.

They shook hands, and the merm – no, Teddy’s hand wasn’t clammy at all but warm and just a little damp. Billy could feel himself blushing. He told himself firmly to not let his gaze wander, but to keep looking into the other boy’s eyes. It didn’t help much.

“So, you come here often?” He wanted to catch the words and cram them back into his mouth. Way to make the worst impression possible, _gawd._

Teddy just laughed. “I didn’t use to, but since seeing you here…about once a week, give or take.” He ducked his head as if expecting some kind of reprimand. As if Billy just hadn’t broken into a happy smile at the admission.

“In that case, maybe you could keep me company next time we both happen to be here? It’s not like there’s any danger of scaring fish away, as I now know.” Billy smirked, crossing his fingers behind his back and praying that he wasn’t coming on too strong, that the fact that Teddy was sitting beside him right now meant that he wanted to get to know Billy, too.

“Yes!” The merman’s grin was so relieved, it was almost as if he’d been worrying about the same thing. “That sounds perfect.”

After that, his parents began to worry a little because Billy started going fishing so often and for so long…but since he always came home happier and livelier than ever, nobody said a thing.


End file.
